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Hello, I've have been thinking really hard about if I should take Aikido. I use to take Shorin-Ryu and it was good it helped me out a lot but in the end it was not for me. What I want to ask is that I live in a ghetto, so I end up fighting a lot mostly cause of my skin color, only white kid in like 30miles lol. The things that I cant defend my self from are, like when people pull guns on me, jump me, try and stab me, and some guy coming from be hide me and grabbing me when his friends beat me down. Now I have been in over 40 fights now and won most of them. But if I could fight them and not hurt them that would make me feel a lot better cause I am tired of hurting people. Hopefully the teachings Aikido offer can help lower my anger too. I would like to know if Aikido could help me with most of this stuff. Thank you for reading

Aikido could definitely help. The only thing I'd say, though, is not to expect to be able to rely on it for at least a few years; if you go to a few classes and learn a couple of techniques, chances are you won't be proficient enough to pull them off on the street. But if you're looking to commit to a martial art to help your situation and are willing to bide your time, I think Aikido could be just what you need.

That's the impression I'm getting from studying this particular art. Truth be told, I think proficiency at any combat system DOES take years to master. We live in times where a lot of people want or expect instant gratification. Sad.

I'm going to start Aikido in the Fall as I play league tennis heavily in the summer months. By next summer, I expect to be able to balance the two nicely but when I begin, I want to dedicate all my time and energy into Aikido.

Aikido may help. It will take a while for you to learn to do things without thought and be smooth with the techniques. I used to take Aikijitsu and now I am an Aikido student. I am now learning to blend both styles together. Though, since Aikido came from Aikijitsu, there are a lot of things that have common ground. I am sorry that you live in an area where you have to worry about these things. I would say give Aikido a chance. Maybe a month or two. That will give you an idea if the style will be something that you will enjoy and be able to use. If you like it, then stick with it. If you don't like it, then go ahead and try another style.

OK, this is just my opinion and you will have to consider it yourself, but: Whether or not you decide to do Aikido or any other martial art (which is to some extent a separate issue), if it was me, personally, my first priority would be to come up with a good solid plan for getting out of your neighbourhood and into one where people aren't pulling guns and knives on you and jumping you, and for staying there.

I.e., figure out what is stopping you from moving somewhere safer at the moment - age, lack of education, job training to get a better job, etc? Family you would not want to leave behind and would want to figure out how to take with you? etc. While I love Aikido and perhaps you might perhaps enjoy it or learn something from it, it seems, to me, like getting out of your neighbourhood would be the most important 'project' to try to focus your energy into, and it may take a lot of time and effort to do.

Again, I don't know all your circumstances, that's just what it seems like to me.

I don't know if anyone who gets into daily fights should be trying to implement Aikido techniques immaturely without much training. It is a complicated martial art, it takes like 6-10 years just to black belt on average, so it might not be very effective for some one who's under constant distress... may I suggest a fire arm. lol

I don't know if anyone who gets into daily fights should be trying to implement Aikido techniques immaturely without much training. It is a complicated martial art, it takes like 6-10 years just to black belt on average, so it might not be very effective for some one who's under constant distress... may I suggest a fire arm. lol

I wouldn't suggest a firearm, but I wouldn't suggest aikido either. Neither one is the right tool for the problem as described by OP.